What the heck is a giclée print (and other things you should know before buying fine art prints)?

Before buying a fine art print there are [at least] two things you should know.

1. All printers are not created equal. For example, comparing your home printer to a high-end commercial ink-jet or digital press is something like the comparison between a Geo Metro and a Ferrari. They are similar in terms of their basic intended use, but the similarities stop there. Compared to a real printer, chances are good that your printer uses less durable parts, lower-quality ink, poorer software, worse paper, and is capable of fewer, smaller, less durable, and lower-resolution prints. So why buy one? Because the Metro-Ferrari comparison is pretty accurate in terms of pricing too...
2. All prints are not created equal. There is a difference between printing and printmaking. Printing is a process that (now) involves digitizing a piece of artwork and reproducing it with a digital or lithographic press in high volume. The color can be drastically different from the original, results will vary from press to press, but the cost-per-print is quite low. Printmaking involves digitizing artwork with a carefully calibrated, high-resolution scanner, adjusting the color and values of the digital file to match the original, printing swatches on a high-quality ink-jet printer on profiled fine art papers (canvas, watercolor, etc.), comparing them to the original under different types of light, and repeating the process again and again until the final product is indiscernible from the original artwork. The cost per-print is quite high, but they can be produced one at a time on demand, with little or no effort in the future. These are known as "giclée" prints (French for "sprayed ink").

So how can you recognize one from the other?

1. Price
2. Place
3. Paper
4. Pencil
5. Purples.

The price (unless the artist or vendor is gouging you) should be pretty low for a digital or lithographic print ($10 to $100). A limited-edition giclée ("limited-edition" and "giclée" are often the same thing, but not always) should run you at least $50, but will usually be between $200 and $1000.

The place that you found the print should also be an indicator. You will not find a giclée in Target or Pottery Barn. You will likely only find one in the artist's studio, website, or a high-end gallery.

Look at the grain and color of the paper. A watercolor-paper, canvas, or other nicely textured, heavy paper is a good indicator of a good print. An ultra-smooth, ultra-white, heavy paper can also be a good sign, but is harder for most people to tell apart from the slightly less white, less heavy, and less expensive paper characteristic of cheap prints.

Pencil signatures (and numbers) are a good sign. It means the artist really took the time to sign the print, which he or she would not have done were there ten or twenty thousand made. Pencil is also difficult to fake, as it is a dull gray, but quite shiny when light reflects off of it.

Purple is notoriously difficult to print. Not any purple, but a deep, vibrant, bluish-purple. Recent advances in ink-jet inks have made them possible to print. So chances are good that if you find a print with that beautiful, shocking purple, it's worth what they're charging for it.

Whether or not you like a piece of art is largely subjective. What you pay for a fine art print is largely objective. Do your homework, pay close attention, and remember—buy Thomas Virgin Art products wherever they are sold!

~Tom